The final Children’s Nursing Educator’s Forum of 2022 took place on Wed 23^rd Nov. Guest presenter, Prof Laurie Posey (Instructional Designer from George Washington University) joined Clare Davis (Lecturer and teaching lead from the Harry Crossley Children’s Nursing Development Unit) to take us on a very practical and informative overview of ways to maximize online teaching.

Starting with clear design and planning principles, of equal worth whether teaching online or face to face, Laurie described the “backward design” approach, whereby one basically starts by looking at the required end product. They helped us also unpack Blooms Taxonomy and the right use of verbs, to define course and learning objectives. I am sure that that I was not the only participant to leave with a clear image of Clare taking her list of verbs with her wherever she goes, just in case a clear objective is required.

Discussion was had around different learning activities and techniques available both online and in the physical classroom. When wanting to encourage reflective discussion for example then “Think, Pair, Share” (Think about what been said, split into pairs, and share your thinking)!

Clare also guided us through a template, that she has developed and standardised for all the Harry Crossley Children’s Nursing Development Unit online courses. This results not only in uniformity of teaching but helps students identify what is expected of them and what is coming up in the remainder of the lesson.

This Forum was attended by Nursing Educators from 9 institutions across 7 countries. We trust that all went away with food for thought as we take stock and consider our teaching in the year ahead.